God's Word on That

Tag: abide

  • So We Seek

    Up now, slight man!  Flee for a little while your occupation.  Hide yourself for a time from your disturbing thoughts.  Cast aside your burdens and cares, and put away your toilsome business.  Yield room for some little time to God and rest for a little time in Him.  Enter the chamber of your mind; shut out all thoughts save that of God and such as can aid you in seeking Him.  Speak now to God saying, “I seek Your face.”

    This is what the Lord says to the [sleeping] house of Israel: “Seek Me and live!” (Amos 5:4)

    God did this so men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us (Acts 17:27).

    O God, You are my God.  Earnestly I seek You.  My soul thirsts for You; my body longs for You, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water (Psalm 63:1).

    But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe (1) that God exists, and (2) that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

    In approaching God, the seeker discovers that the Divine Being dwells in obscurity, hidden behind a cloud of unknowing.  Nevertheless he should not be discouraged but set his will with a naked intent unto finding God.  This cloud is between the seeker and God only, so that the seeker may never “see” God clearly by the light of his understanding nor “feel” Him in his emotions.  But by the mercy of God, faith can reach through into God’s presence, if the seeker but believes the Word and presses on. (John M. Watkins)

    Therefore seek God with your heart and not your head.

    Seek and you will find… for… He who seeks, finds (Matthew 7:7-8).

    You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13).

     If from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find Him if you look for Him with all your heart and all your soul (Deuteronomy 4:29).

    Many seek the God they want but do not know the God who is.

    The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him (Lamentations 3:25).

    The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed; a stronghold in times of trouble; those who know Your name will trust in You; for You, O Lord, have never forsaken those who seek You (Psalm 9:9-10).

    God is never irritated by the candle of an honest seeker.

    Seek the Lord and His strength.  Seek His face evermore (1 Chronicles 16:11).

    Seek the Lord while He may be found.  Call on Him while He is near (Isaiah 55:6).

    Seek the Lord all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice.  Seek righteousness, seek humility… (Zephaniah 2:3)

    [Seek Christ] in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3).

    Seek God’s wisdom so you are slow to condemn but quick to show compassion.

    One thing I ask of the Lord, this I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His holy Temple (Psalm 27:4).

  • But God’s Discipline is Not Harsh

    God is very ingenious in making crosses for us – He makes crosses of whatever we love best, and turns all to bitterness.  They crucify such persons from head to foot, and teach them their own lack of power and the uselessness of all they possess.  But faith turns these crosses all to good account.  It teaches us to look upon all such things as mere bondage, and in our patient acceptance of them it shows us real freedom.  Happy are those who learn to see God’s hand bruising them in mercy.     (Fenelon)

    God doesn’t discipline us to be mean. Beauty does come from it.

    Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him! (Job 13:15)

    The Lord has chastened me severely, but He has not given me over to death (Psalm 118:18).

    God is a fountain of endless novelty.

    It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority (Acts 1:7).

    You have allowed me to suffer much hardship, but You will restore me to life again and lift me up from the depths of the earth.  You will restore me to even greater honor; and comfort me once again…  Then I will praise You with music on the harp because You are faithful to Your promises, O God (Psalm 71:20-22).

    Everything in heaven and on earth is designed to purify us and make us worthy of Him.

    Blessed is the man You discipline, O Lord, the man You teach from Your law.  You grant him relief from days of trouble (Psalm 94:12-13).

    [Even] Though He [Jesus] was a [firstborn] Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered (Hebrews 5:8).

    A wise son heeds his father’s instruction (Proverbs 13:1).

    He who ignores discipline comes to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honored (Proverbs 13:18).

    No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have indeed been trained by it (Hebrews 12:11).

    Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain (Psalm 139:6).

    The ultimate measure of a friend is where they stand in times of challenge.  In the same way, we will never know (in a personal way) the faithfulness of Jesus apart from adversity and Him sharing it with us.  God is in the process of engineering circumstances through which He can reveal Himself to each one of us.

    When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the rest of the world (1 Corinthians 11:32).

    No matter what you feel, God is always good.

  • God Guides Through Discipline

    God does not want us happy and comfortable. [I am a good person, therefore I deserve…]  God sustained 938,000 people in the desert for 40 years.  He can sustain you.  He has no trouble keeping you alive.  He wants you in service – He needs your spirit.   It is your spirit that He spends time disciplining.            

    Our Father is always watching to correct our path.

    Do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction.  For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights (Proverbs 3:11-12).

    Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects.  Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty (Job 5:17).

    And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves and punishes everyone He accepts as a son.”  Endure [choose to submit to] hardship as discipline.  God is treating you as sons.  For what son is not disciplined by his father? (Hebrews 12:5-7)

    God heaps crosses on those He loves.  “Could He not make us good without making us so miserable?”  But He has not chosen to do so.  He is the Master.  We can only be silent and adore His infinite wisdom without understanding it. (Fenelon)

    Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline (Revelation 3:19).

    The more we are afraid to bear crosses, the more we need them.  We should be fully aware of the magnitude of our disease by seeing the severity of the remedies that our Spiritual Physician sees good to apply!  Accept suffering as therapeutic to building faith and character.     (Fenelon)

    Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you (Deuteronomy 8:5).

    We must carry our cross as a treasure.  It is through that cross that we are made worthy of God and conformed to the likeness of His Son. Crosses are part of our daily bread.  God regulates the measure of them according to the things we really lack and require.  He knows what we need, even if we are ignorant of it.  Let Him do as He wills and let us resign ourselves into His hands.    

    My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.  But let patience have its perfect work [in you], that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing (James 1:2-4).

    For the commandment is a lamp, and the whole teaching [of the law] is light, and reproofs of discipline are the way of life (Proverbs 6:23).

  • Our Gracious God

    That God can be known by the soul in tender, personal experience while remaining infinitely aloof from the curious eyes of reason constitutes a paradox best described by F. W. Faber: darkness to the intellect but sunshine to the heart. (A. W. Tozer)

    God is a loving Father, ready to hear our prayers and supply our needs

    What is man that You are mindful of him?  The son of man that You care for him?  You have made him a little lower than the angels and crowned him with glory and honor (Psalm 8:4-5).

    For as high as the heavens are above the earth so great is His love for those who fear Him.  As far as the east is from the west so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:11-12)

    Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits (Psalm 68:19).

    He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds.  He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.  Great is the Lord Almighty in power.  His understanding has no limit (Psalm 147:3-5).

    But God is a God who not merely restores but takes up our mistakes and follies into His plans for us and brings good out of them.  This is part of the wonders of His gracious sovereignty.  This is God’s promise.  This is how good God is!

    You are the God who performs miracles.  You display Your power among the peoples (Psalm 77:14)

    He causes [clouds/rain] to come whether for correction [discipline], or for His land [sustenance], or for mercy [forgiveness]. (Job 37:13)

    God’s love is such that He accepts us just the way we are but refuses to leave us there.  We can be so difficult, but God can be so patient!

    He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

    “He has set eternity in their hearts.”  To be made for eternity and forced to dwell in time is for mankind a tragedy of huge proportions.  All within us cries for life and permanence, and everything around us reminds us of only mortality and change.  Yet that God has made us from the stuff of eternity is both a glory yet to be realized, and a prophecy yet to be fulfilled. (A W Tozer)

    The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.  The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food at the proper time.  You open Your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing (Psalm 145:14-16).

    O the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable His judgments and His paths beyond tracing out! (Romans 11:33)

    Throughout the expanse of creation God has hidden things for us to discover, to enjoy, and with which to perceive the nature of our Creator.

    He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.  The Lord sets prisoners free.  The Lord gives sight to the blind.  The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down.  The Lord loves the righteous.  The Lord watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow… (Psalm 146:7-8)

    Blessed are You, Lord God of Israel, our Father forever and ever (1 Chronicles 29:10).